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• Issue #264
• Article

By Michael Diemar

The hunting was good for those who made it to the Pullman Tour Eiffel Hotel and the Photo Discovery Show.

Last year, dealer, publisher and promoter Bruno Tartarin moved his tabletop fair Photo Discovery from Le Pavilion Wagram to the Pullman Tour Eiffel Hotel. Tartarin explained, "The location is much more convenient, a short walk from Paris Photo, which has helped bring more people to the fair. It also has the most spectacular view of any photo fair in the world, the Eiffel Tower."

The new location has proved very popular with exhibitors and visitors alike. This year's line-up of exhibitors was impressive as always, and included Tartarin himself, Adnan Sezer and Serge Kakou who together showed masterpieces by Gustave Le Gray, Atget, Félix Teynard as well as travel albums.

Other exhibitors included Dr. Jens Mattow, Paul Cordes, Caroline Markovic, Marcel Minck, Denis Canguilhem, Sam Vermorel and Pablo Buther. Altogether, there were 40 dealers from the European continent and the UK presenting their wares. And for many visitors to Paris, the one-day Photo Discovery was as much of a magnet as Paris Photo.

I spotted many well-known faces in the crowd: Sylvie Aubenas of the BnF, Cambridge-based conservator Nicholas Burnett, curator and collector Robert Flynn Johnson, Hans Rooseboom and Mattie Boom from the Rijksmuseum, collector Ettore Molinario, who is working on a museum in Milan due to open next Autumn, and veteran dealer Robert Hershkowitz.

Roland Belgrave, UK photography dealer, said that he brought mainly 19th-century material to the fair, and his focus was travel and exploration.

UK dealer Roland Belgrave has been a stalwart of the fair since the beginning. He had a large group of works on his stand, including Julia Margaret Cameron's portrait of Sir John Herschel, images of Egypt by Félix Teynard, a salt print of Lyon by Louis-Antoine Froissart, and much else. Belgrave told me, "I brought mainly 19th-century material to the fair, and my focus was travel and exploration. I achieved good sales, albums as well as individual images."

Belgrave regards Photo Discovery as being in a category of its own, "I do a lot of fairs, on both sides of the Atlantic. It's the only vintage fair left globally that has such a high attendance, both exhibitors and those coming to buy or just browse. The fairs that are devoted to vintage photography that remain in the UK and New York simply do not have the same pull, but I suppose that's due to the proximity to Paris Photo."

Cartacea Ltd, based in London and Bergamo, Italy, has joined the ranks more recently. Earlier this year, Enrico Abrate and Marco Citron opened their gallery in Bergamo. Abrate told me, "Our approach this year was mainly focused on the late 20th century, with classic historic photographers like Larrain, Koudelka and Giacomelli but we also had a selection of vernacular prints and a variety of vintage press photos."

Abrate was was pleased with the response, "We had really strong sales this time. Being close to Paris Photo Fair helped. There was a constant flow of collectors and interested parties throughout the day. We sold works by established names, as well as 20th-century photogravures and vintage press photos of protests, photographs of children and artist portraits. It was great to meet new private collectors, dealers and institutions, as well as established clients."

One thing that just about everybody I spoke to commented was how it great it was to see young dealers exhibiting, among them the Paris-based Barnabé Moinard, who presented an impressive variety of works, "I brought a selection of beautiful albumen prints from the Sirot collection, a polar bear by Dixon, a view of Simla in winter by Samuel Bourne, albumen prints of Arles by Bisson and Baldus, a beautiful portrait of a woman from 1918 by Henry Goodwin, a set of images of Greece, taken in 1937 by the French woman photographer Reine Celly. I also brought series of minimalist snapshots, a selection of press photographs and a stunning hand-painted photograph of an electric chair, taken in 1936. I like variety and I think of my selection as a rhapsody or a dialogue."

Moinard had had a successful fair: "I sold images of Arles and Italy, an experimental silver print from the 1950's in the surrealist vein, a 1908 scientific photo of the sun, a beautiful 1907 print of a man of the Massa tribe. As a young dealer, the fair is great for me. I can meet clients that I know from Instagram or my website. The overall quality at the fair is high. My only criticism is that the fair closes at 16:00, and it could end a bit later."

Belgium photo collector, teacher and part-time dealer Wouter Lambrechts holds a copy of the new photo book on the daguerreotype by Carlos Vertanessian, "Retratos del Plata: Historias del Daguerrotipo 1839-1859, which will be reviewed shortly on I Photo Central.

Another young dealer who is very active on Instagram is Wouter Lambrechts, the Antwerp-based photo historian and teacher, well-known for his online gallery Bazar Nadar. Lambrechts told me, "After visiting the Photo Discovery fair several years as a collector, it was time to participate with Bazar Nadar. I specialize in 19th-century and early 20th-century photography. I brought a wide selection of vernacular photography. I try to offer photos that have some history and are aesthetic or even bizarre. The collection contains some photos by well-known photographers, but mainly unknown discoveries."

Lambrechts achieved good sales, "Several vernacular photos that combined aesthetics and a touch of humor found a new home. A 19th-century nude portrait went to an interesting collection on gender, and a modernist collage showing the port of Ghent by Nikolaï Kossikoff from 1935 will go to the Met. Selling photos is like saying goodbye to them but it always gives me pleasure to know that they will be cherished by their new owners."

Lambrechts was impressed with the fair overall, "It is fantastic to organize this fair during Paris Photo. It gives you the opportunity to meet collectors and colleagues from all over the world. I made many new contacts and spoke customers in real life instead of online. It's a lively gathering of photography enthusiasts, ranging from experienced collectors, museum curators and even some of my photography students. They were impressed by the wide range of photographs and the good atmosphere."

Michael Diemar is a London-based collector and consultant. He is also editor-in-chief of The Classic, a new free magazine about classic photography. He is a long-time writer about the photography scene, writing extensively for several Scandinavian photography publications, as well as for the E-Photo Newsletter and I Photo Central.